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BUSINESS
THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday November 8,2011
NASC boss calls for virile agric sector
Kingston University in-country representative
The director-gen era I said that' the council had established demonstration plots to | enable farmers adopt and use iality seeds and to show case e superiority or otherwise of hybrids over pollinated and other maize seeds. Speaking at the occasion, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, DrEzekiel Oyemomi, expressed the commitment of the Federal Government to pursue its Agricultural Transformation Agenda to its logical end by shifting agriculture from what it used to be to a business venture.
THE National Agricuhura. ISeeds Council (NASC), has called for a virile agricultural sector and a well developed seed industry to boose food production in the country. The Director-General, Oluseeun S hobo wale, made the call on recently at Sheda, FCT, during the 2011 Fanners Field Day on Hybrid/Open Pollinated ' Maize Demonstration, Seed Increase PlotandGrowoutTest Plots. Shobowale noted that the adoption and use of improved seed by farmers had been "very" low with the highest 10 per cent recorded for maize. The major quantities of seed
used by our farmers are obtained from the farmers' saved seed orseed used by our neighbouring farmers or grains purchased from local market. The effect of this development, he added, was lowyietd and income to fanners, thereby making farming unprofitable and non competitive. He said that the present administration had recognised the use of high quality seeds across the country as a core strategy to realising its agricultural transformation agenda and had stressed the need to create more awareness in this regard.
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'New farming techniques to boost food production underway
line with .the Federal overnment's Agricultural Transformation Action Plan (ATAP), efforts are. ongoing to expose Nigerian farmers to Responding^ Joseph Faniyi, new farming techniques to the Commissioner for boost food production, a minis- Agriculture, who received the terial aide has said. special adviser on behalf of Dr. Fregene Martins, th e special Gov. Ibrahim adviser on Technical issues to idris, assured him of the state thei Minister of Agriculture and government's readiness to Rural Development, said partner with, the Federal this when he visited the Kogi Government to revamp State Commissioner- for the agricultural secton " " ,' Agriculture, ; "- : _ Fariivi noted that Kogi State Astatement issued by themin- was blessed with arable land, istry and made available to the adding that government News Agenty of Nigeria (NAN) would soon take delivery of in Lokoja, quoted Martins as some farming implements, saying that the government which would be distributed to would establish processingand farmers at affordable rates. packaging centres as VyeJl as . Meanwhile, the National facilitate market access for: Cotton Association of Nigeria, .their produce. - . ./ Northeast Zone, lias urged the Furthermore, he; said federal and state go vemme n ts that government .would also to purchase cottonfiornformensure farmers access, to. ers and merchants to encour.improved seedlings at sub- age increased production of sidised prices. .. -•'' . . the commodity -: " :
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Alhaii Musa Umaru, the national vice president of the association, made the call in an. interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Gombe recently. Urnaru noted that government had sensitised fanners on the need to increase the production of tie cash crop. He said that if farmers lacked the market for their produce, they might abandon cotton cultivation for other lucrative businesses. He noted that farmers incurred huge losses in 2010 as textile industries failed to patronise them. Umaru advised farmers to avoid adulterating their produce with water OF stones in a bid to make profit, saying Chat such acts usually caused damage to ginneries.
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